The Tedy’s Team Center of Excellence Faculty Excellence Award honors MGH Institute faculty whose work reflects exceptional commitment to improving the lives of stroke survivors and advancing the field of stroke recovery through research, mentorship, clinical innovation, and leadership. That is a perfect description for the 2026 winner of the award, Prudence “Prue” Plummer. 

The Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Director of the Cognitive-Motor Behavior Lab is an internationally recognized rehabilitation scientist whose work focuses on stroke recovery, mobility, participation, and community reintegration after neurologic injury. Her research looks at developing rehabilitation approaches that target impairments as well as environment and lifestyle factors contributing to mobility disability to improve real-world outcomes that matter to stroke survivors and their families. 

“It is such an honor to be acknowledged by a community so deeply committed to improving the lives of individuals recovering from stroke,” said Plummer. “I am grateful that my work to better understand the transition from hospital to home and to support safety, activity, and participation, resonates with the Center’s mission. I share this recognition with my amazing collaborators, trainees, and staff whose curiosity, dedication, and shared commitment to advancing stroke recovery continually inspire and elevate my research.”

Dr. Plummer is committed to supporting early career researchers, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinicians pursuing stroke rehabilitation research. That includes interdisciplinary research and mentoring Tedy’s Team Center of Excellence Research Fellow Megan Schliep from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. That collaboration resulted in the recent study on Comparative Predictive Validity of Fall-Risk Screening Assessments in Subacute Stroke being published in the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy in April.

“Dr. Plummer’s research is innovative and deeply centered on what matters most to stroke survivors and their families,” said Director of Tedy’s Team Center of Excellence in Stroke Recovery Kim Erler. “Equally important is her commitment to mentoring early career scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students who will shape the future of stroke rehabilitation research. Her work reflects the mission and values of the Tedy’s Team Center of Excellence in meaningful and lasting ways.”

Dr. Plummer is the second recipient of the award following last year’s winner of the inaugural award, Dr. Anne McCarthy Jacobson.